Few people have enjoyed a closer look at Guillermo Diaz over the past couple of years than David Thorpe, whose work you probably know from ESPN.com. Thorpe runs a pro training camp down in Florida where he's trained dozens of pro and college players, Diaz among them. He was kind enough to share some impressions of Diaz from the six weeks he trained him during the weeks before the 2006 draft:

I loved the young man, and as I often told him, if he didn't already havea family I'd be first in line to adopt him. But he can be verytempermental, I'm told (he wasn't that way for me at all) in the wrongenvironment.

He is lightning fast and quick.

He became a terrific shooter. I didn't like how he looked this summer,but last summer he was awesome.

He is better than Daniel Gibson, in my opinion, in terms of pure talentand skill.

He is fun to play with.

His only problem, and it may be a career killer, are the people in hisinner circle. An infamous AAU connection that I see as deeply manipulativeand not too bright.

There are few archetypes in sports less attractive than "the AAU coach," though I'm sure there are countless that are great mentors. The suggestion here is that the Clips held off on offering Diaz a guaranteed contract, but will probably take a protracted look at him during training camp. With Elton down, you have to think that the Clips might be more apt to give a scorer like Diaz a more generous opportunity.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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"The suggestion here is that the Clips held off on offering Diaz a guaranteed contract" is that the suggestion from Thorpe or from Arnovitz? I'm assuming it's non-guaranteed, meaning Jared Jordan can still compete for the final roster spot. But it's a significant distinction, especially for Jordan.

Elton will be in for more than half the season, and definitely in time for our Cinderella playoff run. Sam I Am (my hall of fame pic, first ballad) will play like the 21 year old that won championships with Houston in the 90's! Think positive. God I hope they dont totally suck.

I'm not sure about Gansey. I only saw him play in summer league (where I caught maybe two Clipper games). Up there, he seemed like a shooter who couldn't shoot; at least it seemed like shooting was his game, but his shot wasn't falling at the time. If he actually is a pretty good shooter, it might be nice for the Clips to give him a shot.

I have to respond to Arnovitz's comments on David Thorpe's impressions of Diaz.
Have just spoken with David on the phone and he denies saying what was written in the last point of the blog. Guillermo and I respect David immensely and appreciate everything he did for G in the summer of '06.
The "suppossed" word is that Guillermo left Nymburk and Greece because we were manipulating the situation. What situation? Guillermo left Nymburk towards the end of the season because his mother in Puerto Rico was extremely ill. He had averaged better than 20 points per game for the number one team in the league. When his mom's situation improved, he went to Greece to play, but never got paid. How many pros do you know that play for free?
Guillermo has always called the shots in his career and he and his agent will work out what is best for him. We just try to make sure the information he is getting from the outside is legit. G is part of my family and I will always be behind him and whatever he wants.
Taking comments out of text can be totally irresponsible and I suggest you call David, AGAIN, if you need to verify this information.

Really Arturo? The last thing I remeber was Guillermo Diaz being left out of the Puerto Rican National team because his agent demanded "play time" wich is clearly not something you can ask for free when you have a team with two NBA guards, Manolo (Puerto Rico's coach) wanted Guillermo in the team back then and he has said since then that he still wants him but that he needs to attend the teams practices. Your choices are affecting Guillermo's public image, the Puerto Rican people that used to love him in his Miami U days are now disapointed at his attitude, an attitude that I am sure is not Diaz's attitude but rather that of those surrounding him, if you don't believe me take some time to read the bsnpr.com forum and you will see the reaction's of several Puerto Rican basketball fans and experts. What Mr.Arnovitz published here is the exact same thing that the Puerto Rican fans and media have been saying for the last year, it time Guillermo Diaz cuts the leash and begins managing his carrer on his own. Con todo respeto espero que errores en manejo como estos no ocurran con otros jugadores que estan seguros a entrar en la NBA a su tiempo como Johnathan Rodriguez, quiero que quede claro que en Puerto Rico se te agradese el trabajo que has hecho con nuestros jugadores y se respeta su exito, pero la verdad es hija de Dios.

Sr. Mateo,
I appreciate your kind words in Spanish, but why not in English? If the Puerto Rican people appreciate the job I have done for our Puerto Rican players then why not say it in English.
When Guillermo played in Miami(4 years in HS and College), no one from the national team ever came to see him play or offered him an opportunity to compete for a spot on the national team. Only when he was drafted by the Clippers, into the NBA, did interest in him joining the team come about. Why was he not good enough then but is now? Is the talent evaluation that bad by the team that they didn't know what kind of player he was? Case in point, Jose Juan Barea, was never good enough for the national team until he made the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. Now he is good enough because the team doesn't want to deal with the egg on their faces for not selecting him sooner, even though he was deserving of the honor. And both of these players deem it a Great Honor to repesent their country. What is the Agenda of the national team? Who is making the decisions? Maybe you can explain that to me, in English please.
As far as the BSNPR site is concerned, the fans don't know Guillermo. If they did, they would know who makes his final decisions and who doesn't. If you are such a fan I suggest you contact him and ask him his true feelings. I sure his responses will set you straight on just what his situation is and what has transpired as far as the national team is concerned.

Why weren't Barea or Diaz invited in the Toro years? that question has a simple anser, Julio Toro never gave any opportunity to the new generation and that was pathetic, Toro was an old bull that lived or died with Arroyo, and he wasn't the best of coaches either a good example of this was burning Arroyo aganist China in the 2006 World Championships and only have Dalmau as backup on the next game. But now the panorama has changed, Manolo may not be the best coach out there but he is giving the young guys the opportunity, you should know that he was the one that gave Jose the first chance with the team in the Central American and Caribbean games and it turned out he played hero there, now one of the key figures managing the National team's agenda was Henry Newman who has just recently quited his position as BSN president, he was the one that publicly expressed his vision of: "X player can't be on the National team if he doesn't play BSN" wich was without a shadow of a doubt not a very brilliant position. Regardless of that now the entire technic group is changed and they are going to be forced to grant the young players the chance and they know it, the course of the next year is without a doubt the best moment for Guillermo to join the National team, with Elias Ayuso retiring following the next Olympics the shooting guard possition is up for grabs and so far Apodaca hasn't made an impact there. I have seen Guillermo play while he was in MU wich is just blocks away from my house and have always seen his potential, otherwise I wouldn't even waste my time posting here. The frustration comes as a result of the lack of information we have about him, the public wants to know what is happening they want him to appear on television and set the record straigh, they don't want his agent speaking for him bacause that may give the impresion that he isn't sure about what he is doing with his career. Now putting all the weight on Guillermo is also unfair he can't be blamed for not being allowed to gain a decent pay on his BSN rookie year nor for not being invited to the try outs for the National team until now but he is responsible for keeping silence on certain moments wich led to a negative impact on his public image, most notably the incident with the agent asking for "play time", that particular incident left a sour taste on the mouth of the public that was expecting him to come forward and express himself about it. And again and this time its in spanish, we the Puerto Rican fans are grateful for the work done with our prospects, I doubt anyone can't argue that, nobody can't complain about the program's eficiency with two of the current NBA players being product of it, actually I can only think of Ricky Sanchez as the only NBA caliber player that hasn't been product of it in the last three years.